You all know what time it is...Everyone's favorite part of the game! By the way, while you're reading these, feel free to listen to each zone's respective music. You can do that with the earlier zones to, I just forget to mention it. Makes the whole thing more immersive, y'know?

Chapter 4: Labyrinth Zone

"Explore an intricate maze filled with water. A countdown begins to let you know when you are running out of oxygen. Breathing in air bubbles keeps you from drowning."

-Sonic the Hedgehog instruction manual

Well that doesn't sound too bad, they even let you know when you need to find mo- nevermindthatcountdown'sterrifying!

Sonic hit the ground with a nasty wham. Where am I? I didn't know there were natural caves on South Island. Guess I can't get out the way I came, huh. Oh well, I've been in caves before, I'll be fine.

He walked down some...stairs? Maybe not as natural as I thought. He walked through a small area with a thin layer of water in it. Yuck, now my kicks are all messed up. Oh wait, robot. A small robot that resembled a...penguin, maybe? Whatever it was, it had a drill on its face that had been poking from the ground before it jumped at Sonic, so he knew it was coming and dispatched it easily.

Then Sonic found something very,very unsettling. A deep pit of water, with no way around. "No" said Sonic "No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO!" Water was his least favorite thing in the world. He had never learned how to swim, as it wasn't as fast as running, and he had nightmares about losing speed while running over water and sinking into an abyss.

Then he calmed down. I mean, there's nothing else to do. He jumped in.

And jumped out. Then in. Then out. Then in again. A drill bot attacked, he dodged a spike chain that whirled around the edge of a platform. He went deeper, found a button, opened a door. To more water. There were air vents here and there, and Sonic stopped at all of them, and even then, he started to panic. He still wasn't good in tight spaces either. He hit another button, and burst onto dry land gasping for breath. The blue blur proceded to pop a ringbox and bop some bots, before falling into the cold, and onto another button. (On the other side of this room is a button that opens a door. But it also does something else. Using the rising platforms to get out of the room you just jumped into, when you reach the top, a platform will have appeared. Ride this platform and jump off right as you reach the end, as I think the platform falls into spikes soon afterwards. Once you are safely on the ledge, congratulations! You just accessed the most hidden shortcut in the entire game. Labyrinth zone act 1 is now pathetically easy. But if you go that way, there are only 49 rings. Unless you play the remaster. They let you get the special stage.) A current sucked him through a corridor, and past some spikes. Sonic went down, and got hit by a spikechain, losing rings. He found some fish bots, and went up some spiky stairs to sweet sweet air, and conveyor platforms, which the azure hedgie rode to the top of the room, pressed a button, but realized he had to drop into the gloom once again. Air bubble. Air bubble. Air bubble. That was all Sonic was capable of thinking of at the moment. Clearing some spears that shot out of the floor, the speedster opened another door with a button. He jumped some more spears, and went up an air filled hallway. Then the water started rising underneath him, causing him more panic. An enemy shot spikes at him, robbing him of more rings, Sonic hopped on a conveyor belt, dodged a shooting statue, and slogged through a hallway of enemies and rising water. Finally, after going through one last corridor of buttons, doors, and spears. Sonic got to a signpost with about 15 rings. He honestly didn't care that he couldn't get to the secret zone, he just collapsed, trembling at the thought of having to go through two more segments of this nightmare.

Eventually, though, he plucked up the remnants of his courage, and moved on.

Suddenly, he dropped through the floor into a large steam of rapidly flowing water. Yelling and flailing, the blue bullet splashed into the water, right on top of an invincibility box. Silently blessing the compassionate soul who had put it there (he didn't think for a second that it had been Robotnik) and slogged further deeper into the ruins, where he found some ringboxes and fish bots. Grabbing some air, he went through a spike-chained hallway, bounced on a drillbot, and got sucked down a corridor.

Head spinning from that little trip, he accidently walked into a fish bot, losing his rings. But then he found a shield and it was all good. Then he realized he was stuck in the room. There was door but no button to open it with like all the other he saw it in the wreckage of a ringbox he had broken earlier while searching for the button. Mentally kicking himself, the spiky speedster jumped down and pressed it. The door opened.

After jumping down a vertical corridor with spears and button-activated sliding floors, Sonic grabbed some air, and lost his shield to another spike-hurling enemy. He bopped it, and realized something bad. He had hit a dead end. Sonic started to panic again. There was air nearby, but he needed food too; the thought of never having chili dogs ever again was not something he wanted to dwell upon. But then, once again, the floor dropped out from underneath him, and he continued onwards. Making his way down yet another corridor of spikes (which he lost his rings to), enemies, and bubbles, Sonic found some conveyors to that took him up, and out to another signpost. Huh, that wasn't so bad. I still wanna get out quick though mused the waterlogged hedgie as he rolled through some drill bots…

...and down an endless waterslide. What with bouncing back and forth between the walls of the shaft he was plunging down, combined with getting dunked in the water again and again, Sonic was amazed but relieved that he noticed a small ledge. On it was a ringbox and a button. He hit both, and a door opened on the other side of the shaft. Weird way to get in.

Moving some floors aside, Sonic came to a section of ground with a bunch of spears sticking out of it. (I mention this to those getting frustrated with this act. If you stand in the very middle of this platform, a block will fall after a few seconds, taking you to a bit of a shortcut. This being Sonic's first time here, he didn't know about that, and probably never will.) He jumped up some spiky ledges, went through a panic-inducing low corridor with ratcheting spikes. The speed demon found some ringbox. He then proceeded to lose all his rings about five seconds later to some spikes and spike chains. He soon found another ringbox, and headed on. Dropping down past another conveyor (There's a room with 40 rings and an extra life if you ride the conveyor to the left side of the room, then jump. If you don't make the jump, hit the red spring to your right to get back on the belt. Just watch for the spikes around it) He soon got sucked down another corridor and had to jump some gaps to not fall into a pit with fish bots in it. He found a shield, and jumped across some semi-spiky platforms to the other side. He found another conveyor belt that carried him up to a button, which changed its direction, which took him out of that room. Flattening some drillers, the cyan spikeball shot down a waterslide, then hitched a ride on some platforms that rose with the water. He began leaping up a very vertical corridor. Against his better judgement, the hedgie began getting his hopes up that he was near the surface. The water was rising after him, but his hope to get out of the drove him upwards. He even found another shield, not that he needed it .

"Interesting, I thought those didn't work" rumbled a voice that was starting to get on Sonic's nerves.

"WHY ARE YOU EVEN DOWN HERE?!" yelled Sonic.

"None of your business" growled Robotnik "You look terrible, by the way. I thought hedgehogs could swim."

"Well, this one can't. Are we going to fight or not?"

"Nah, I don't have anything to fight you with, see ya."

"WHAT? No, no, no! I did not just go through that hell just so you can run away again. GET BACK HERE!"

Robotnick was jetting off by that point, having realized that he probably didn't want Sonic to catch up with him, and also that the water was rising. Sonic unaware of the second fact, was following Robotnick. Since he couldn't fly, He had much more trouble dodging the spears and fire-shooting statues that lined this part of the shaft. First he lost his shield, then his rings.

Then the water rose around him, making the platforming even harder. I'm gonna die thought Sonic (Insert drowning theme here). Suddenly, he was out! At this point, Sonic didn't even care that Robotnick was running off. He just popped the capsule and...was stuck.

"No...no. NO! This can't be it, where'd Robotnick go?" Sonic saw a corridor too high up for him to reach "If only I knew someone who could fly...and talk to me so I wouldn't seem crazy when I talk to myself like this. Or would that just make them think I was crazy? At this rate, I'll never meet them anyways, I'll stay down here forever and rot, Robotnik will take over, and someday they'll find my bones down here." Sonic sank down against the wall dejectedly and started to sob.

Suddenly, in a flash of white-hot anger at the unfairness of life, he slammed a fist against the wall. A brick fell out. Sonic looked at the whole he'd made in shock. The wall he was resting against was very old, thin and flimsy. Sonic walked to the other side of the room, dashed at the wall, spun, and broke through. From there he found a vertical corridor. He'd never moved so fast in his life. And then…

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT!

Hope I did this iconic stage justice. Please review. No flames. And a MASSIVE THANK YOU to whoever followed and favorited this. Hopefully you're still sticking around since I saw that. You're awesome. See you next week.